


How to Fit In (Without Lying About Yourself)

by artepeach



Category: Naruto
Genre: Acceptance, Alpha Uchiha Sasuke, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Bullying, Explicit Language, Friends to Lovers, Intolerance, Light Angst, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Uzumaki Naruto, SasuNaru - Freeform, Scenting, Self-Acceptance, Sexism, Slash, Slightly feminized characters, Slow Burn, Time Skips, kind of, light fluff, mentions of mpreg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:00:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25587913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artepeach/pseuds/artepeach
Summary: He had been told how to behave and what to do all his life, and though he resisted with all his might, it still hurt to feel like he wasn’t meeting expectations, or like he didn’t fit in with others like him. It took meeting his most precious person for him to realize that he didn’t need to satisfy others, and that he could fit in just by being himself. All of this could’ve maybe gone smoother if he hadn’t lied about his secondary gender along the way though.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 22
Kudos: 74





	1. Part I: Of Friends - Chapter I: FML

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is a new story I decided to start, mainly for my own enjoyment with quarantine and all, but I hope you all can find some enjoyment in it too. It’s basically SNS and A/B/O and it’s about self-acceptance and finding yourself and what not, I know some people are going to read it and be like oh Naruto has clips on his hair fuck this or some other issue with the portrayal of the character, please read the end notes if you want to know more about that. Please enjoy this first chapter! Oh, and there may be spelling errors or formatting errors, if you find any, please let me know! I usually write really late at night so my brain isn’t all there.  
> I also want to give credit to authors like Sasunaru13, IMySpyEye and mochiiihus for creating really cool and interesting ABO and Naruto worlds where I definitely drew inspiration from, having read their wonderful fics, so thank you!  
> Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto :)

He was currently dreaming of a world with no second natures, or one where everyone was just a Beta, which would ultimately leave them with the same result. Would people feel less restricted in how they led their lives? Secondary genders only complicated things in his opinion; it created an entire different category to consider when it came to things like dating, for example, you could be an Alpha male who was into females, but only Alpha females, or a Beta male, who was into males and females, but only those who were Omega. If secondary genders didn’t exist, you’d only have male and female to choose from, so it would be simpler, right? Plus, you’d only have expectations placed on you that were based on if you were a guy or a girl, instead of that in addition to your secondary gender.

Honestly, he wondered why life had to be so complicated; it could be so simple at other times. Sadly for him though, society was still stiff and conservative when it came to things like gender, especially where he was from, aka Japan, but more specifically, the small town of Konoha. To be fair, Konoha was more of a city, it was big enough as to where you wouldn’t know everyone’s name as you would when living in a quaint town, but it was small enough as to where you would probably bump into someone you _did_ know when going out shopping, for example. It was also big enough to have more than one school, and unfortunately for him, more than one school had meant that said places had been mostly made more numerous to give the more protective or traditional parents the option to choose single secondary-gendered schools over mixed schools, which is where he had ended up; an Omega-only high school, and an Omega-only middle school before that one, part of the reasoning behind their existence being that Omega-Omega relationships were rare, thus they started placing both male and female Omegas in one school.

Now, while his parents themselves weren’t the most traditional, they _were_ protective, which is why they had agreed with his grandma Mito – who _was_ very traditional – to place him in said Omega-only middle school when he had finished elementary school. He wasn’t resentful toward them for their choice though, since they had listened and taken his opinion into consideration when he had asked if he could switch to a mixed school, wanting to interact with Betas and Alphas, and possibly getting himself out of the strict and traditional omegan upbringing an Omega-only school provided at the same time. His Omega grandmother had been vehemently opposed this request though, having cited how great an Omega exclusive school had been for her own daughter. The blonde teen had inwardly scoffed lightheartedly at this though, his mom wasn’t as traditional or as stiff as her Omega academy would’ve hoped she’d ended up when she finalized her schooling, sure, she had married and birthed a child with an Alpha she took as her mate, but besides that, she wasn’t what one would expect from the omegan stereotype; she wasn’t meek or quiet, nor was she poised and graceful, and she was definitely not submissive, just as himself.

Sure, he may somewhat have the stereotypical Omega build, which didn’t really bother him much, but when people expected him to keep his stare down, or to make himself as small as possible so as to not to offend, keeping his voice just as small and respectful, he’d start to get a little annoyed. He didn’t like people dictating how he should behave on a constant basis, which is exactly what most people tried to do, just because he was an Omega, they probably did it _more_ just because he always gave pushback, which probably made them think he was always challenging their instructions. He just couldn’t help it though, he was a prankster and an outgoing person by nature, preferring to be boisterous and to speak his mind, rather than be the subdued boy people expected of him. So, his issue didn’t lie in some sort of internalized hatred for his secondary nature, no, he didn’t really mind being an Omega, he _did_ however, mind the societal expectations placed on him for being an Omega. He had no problem with his body, and he did like some activities some would qualify more omegan – or perhaps female in general, which was an entire other issue – like gardening and baking, but he would ultimately be lying if he said he hadn’t perhaps thought, or played around with the idea of what it would be like to be say, a Beta.

He wondered why he was even having this internal monologue in the first place, not that he didn’t have them often, questioning his secondary gender occasionally whenever his mind wondered elsewhere, but if he remembered right, he was at school right now, and he probably had fallen asleep during a lesson, which wouldn’t be good.

“N-naruto-kun!”

If his luck was bad, he was having a lesson with Chiyo-sensei, his elderly anatomy professor, which means he would get an earful later, if he did indeed fall asleep like he suspected. In his defense though, this particular class was dead boring, and it had been an embarrassing nightmare in first year when they went even deeper into secondary gender anatomy.

“Naruto-kun!”

Then slowly but surely, the blonde boy’s blue eyes fluttered open, he raised his head from where it had been perched on his crossed arms on top of his desk and in a disoriented manner he glanced around himself, coming to a stop when he looked to his right, eyes slowly focusing on his pale eyed friend.

“Huh?” he heard himself say distantly, still half asleep.

“You f-fell asleep, I had to w-wake you, or- or Chiyo-sensei would’ve written y-you up.” the raven haired girl whispered back, giggling softly at his unfocused eyes and his messy hair, taking note of the contours of his forehead, which were slightly red and marked by the ridges of their school issued sweater.

“Oh, thanks Hinata-chan!” he replied, flashing her a small smile and turning his head back to the front of the class. Truthfully, he was thankful that he had Hinata next to him, and it had been that way since middle school, ever since they met in homeroom. Back then, he had been nervous, having to come into a new place where from then on, he’d only interact with other Omegas; he had sat himself at the very back of the room, next to said Hyuga girl. After a few moments of silence, he had gathered up enough courage to say hello, doing so a little louder than intended. Hinata in turn had clearly been surprised, and she had stuttered a greeting back; looking back at it, it was surprising how their different personalities had meshed together so well, especially since Hinata was patient and good listener, she could listen to Naruto talk endlessly about one topic or another without getting annoyed when others couldn’t, sharing kindness and warmth as a trait they both had in common.

Over the course of the following years, they had made more friends inside their school, like Haku, who was currently in another class. Hinata would always be his best friend, but he’d be lying if he didn’t want to experience what it would be like to be closer friends with a Beta, or even an Alpha. Glancing at the clear sky from his spot next to the window, he sighed as he remembered his daycare and elementary school years. Normally, said institutions were always mixed, since for children of that age, their secondary natures only manifested themselves slightly in their behavior, existing in name only really, since they all had the test done to determine their secondary gender moments after they were born; thus, unless you were extremely rich, and happened to live in the few places that had single secondary-gender daycares and elementary schools, you ended up in mixed ones, with Alphas, Betas and Omega children all mingling in one class.

From what he could remember, those had been happy moments, especially daycare. Though he always missed his mom when she dropped him off, at his mixed daycare he had gotten the chance to play and interact with Alpha boys and girls, as well as Beta boys, who were usually the kids in class who most closely resembled big parts of his personality. He had felt like he fit in, and one boy in particular had made him forget that he was an Omega, because while the teacher tried to convince him to stay and inside and color, said boy had allowed him to play ball with his small group of Alpha and Beta friends. Though secondary gender roles weren’t as forcefully enforced on them at such an early age, he had thoroughly enjoyed letting his more mischievous and louder side out with no remorse. Elementary school on the other hand, had been a mixed bag of experiences, since at first he had gotten to enjoy himself the same way as he did in daycare, with one exception, that being that the raven haired boy that had played with him apparently didn’t go to the same elementary school as him, which made him sad. However, on occasion, when the Alphas realized he was an Omega, either by the hair clips on his blonde head, or by his more omegan personality traits, or simply because they just knew from class, they had sometimes treated him differently, which disappointed him, having had good relationships beforehand with kids who he retrospectively now realized, just didn’t really care about secondary genders at that age.

“Naruto Namikaze-chan!” Chiyo-sensei screeched from her position in front of the whiteboard, interrupting his thoughts. Internally, he grumbled at the feminine honorific, but he put on a kind face so as to not piss off his teacher further.

“Yes Chiyo-sensei?” he replied as sweetly as he could muster, already knowing she’d scold him for daydreaming in her revered anatomy class for sophomores in Konoha Kaguya Institute.

“You weren’t paying attention to what I was saying were you? I should know better than to have placed you at the back of the room, you’re really making me consider switching you to the front Namikaze-chan! You have a quiz next week and you’re choosing to slack off-” he opted for tuning her out, scanning the board for the answer for whatever she’d ask when she was done ranting.

* * *

When school was finally let out for the day, he headed back home dragging his feet after saying goodbye to his friends. He lived close enough to school as to where he could walk back home and get there quickly enough, but today he was walking slower than normal purposefully, since yesterday, his father had told him to be home right after class, because his dad, the ever popular politician was hosting two other renowned politicians in their home, to drink some tea or whatever. For him, this was a pain, reason being that as the son of a politician he had to make occasional appearances and keep a polished image, fitting of an Omega of course, so the thought of having to act “proper” in front of two old geezers inside of his own home didn’t amuse him in the least, especially considering that his dad sometimes got carried away by all this and tended to become more traditional when around other public servants, which he didn’t blame him for, but he found annoying nonetheless.

His mom would have to do the same which was also annoying, having to see her act as the perfect Omega wife and mother just to keep up appearances, when in reality she wasn’t quite like that, especially not in the comfort of their own home was not going to be pleasant. When he finally arrived, he sighed and got his keys from his pocket, entering their semi traditional home and leaving his shoes by the door.

“Mom?” He called out unenthused, expecting an answer from the kitchen.

“In here!” He heard back, making him head for the kitchen, leaving his backpack by the staircase along the way.

“Tadaima,” he mumbled as he stepped into their kitchen and spotted his mother preparing what he presumed was the drinks and food for their soon to be arriving guests. She turned around and smiled warmly at him.

“Okaeri,” she replied, stepping closer to him and taking notice of his glum face. “Did something happen at school, Naruto? You know I’ll go complain as soon as I get the chance.” She said, frowning and pressing her palms against his cheeks.

“No Mom, I’m just not too excited about having to sit there with Dad’s guests or whoever they are,” he murmured, looking down at the floor. “I can just bet they’ll be all stuffy and traditional and stuff.” He ended, looking back at his mom, who retrieved her hands from his face as she began rummaging for their tea set inside their cabinets and such.

“Naruto, I know you don’t like having to do things like these but your father needs us to do this for him occasionally, just sit through it and it’ll be over before you know it darling,” Kushina said, looking back at him and frowning at his slightly disheveled state. “You should go change sweety, though you should say hello to your father first, he’s in his office.” She said.

He nodded and left, getting one last glimpse of his mom who had her back to him, her long straight red hair as beautiful as always, lifting his sour mood just a tad bit. He went up the stairs picking up his school bag as he went, leaving it in his room and then heading for the office his dad occupied when at home. The door was very slightly open, but he chose to knock anyway.

“Come in,” he heard from inside, the sound muffled. He opened the door wider and stepped inside to see his blonde-haired Alpha father, sitting behind his desk, looking at some papers. Internally, he groaned because this meant he was getting closer to having to mingle with stuck up elderly politicians, but he pushed that down and smiled as his father looked up.

“I’m home Dad,” he said, which caused the other male to flash him a quick smile.

“Naruto,” Minato said happily, standing and pushing his chair back. “Come here son.” He instructed, moving his arms to hug the incoming teenager. He kissed Naruto’s forehead and pushed a stray blonde lock of hair away from his eyes. The blonde teen welcomed the affection, knowing that if he didn’t have his family, he’d yearn for the exact same type of contact he was receiving right now, knowing at the same time that some other kids would find it embarrassing.

“You remember what today is, right?” the Alpha asked, knowing somewhat that his Omega son didn’t enjoy these kinds of things.

“Yes Dad, your boring friends are coming over and I have to be on my best behavior or whatever,” he replied, fiddling with the sleeves of his sweater.

He heard his dad chuckle and he looked back at him strangely.

“They’re far from my friends, Naru. But yes, I do need you on your best behavior, just an hour or so though, it won’t be too bad, I promise,” the older blonde said, petting his son’s hair.

“They may not be your friends but they’ll still be boring and stuck up, ‘ttebayo,” he responded, grumbling slightly and crossing his arms childishly, adding a slight pout for good measure - make his dad feel real bad.

“Well, yes. I guess you could describe Mitokado-san and Utatane-san as stuck up, but they’re just from a different generation Naru; they’re more traditional. They’re important to my job though, if I want to do things right, I unfortunately need to collaborate with them, and that includes inviting them to my home and introducing my lovely family to them, ne?” Minato explained, smiling softly. “Now go get ready, they’ll get here shortly.” He said, going back to the papers on his desk.

Naruto headed back to his room, dropping his school things – which he had previously placed unceremoniously on the floor - on his bed and sighing softly. He went over to his closet and began to rummage through it, already more than dreading having to wear some traditional Omega kimono or something similar just to appease those geezers. He wished he could’ve gone home for the day with a friend to just avoid all of this, but his dad would’ve never let him, preferring to have him home for events like these. He found an evening kimono that he guessed would work, it was a light mint color with soft golden embroidery, suitable for an Omega. He grabbed the kimono and headed for his bathroom, hanging it up on by the door, then turning himself to his mirror.

He stood there for a moment thinking and looking at himself. Those old fossils would probably froth at the mouth if he wore makeup, something on the light side of course because too much of it was unbecoming, and he scoffed at the idea of doing something like that in the first place; that was not happening. He could get away with not doing it because of his age anyway, and the old geezers wouldn’t bat an eye, which was good. He did however have to do something with his hair; throughout the day it had become a bit messy, some blonde locks of hair going in random directions, his somewhat naturally spiky hair condition rearing its ugly head. He sort of wished he had inherited his mother’s more straight hair, but he hadn’t been completely cursed with the same amount of spikiness his dad possessed.

He quickly changed out of his school uniform and then he carefully put the kimono on, racking his memory for how to tie the obi. When he succeeded, he then started on his hard to manage locks.

He removed the three orange clips from his hair, putting them away and then he grabbed his hairbrush. He quickly brushed his hair down as he decided to maintain his regular hairstyle, choosing to part his blonde mop of hair on one side, grabbing three more elaborate clips to keep back the hair, preventing it from getting in his face. He then brushed his teeth and finished getting ready, just waiting for the worst several hours of that particular day to come and hopefully go by quickly.

* * *

He had been helping his mom in the kitchen when the doorbell rang, making him sigh and then follow his dad and mom to the door, huddling up together like some penguin family in order to greet their guests. He decided to save his dad the stress and he did his best attempt to remove the scowl from his face, opting for a soft smile that he was sure would go away as the evening progressed.

When his dad finally opened the door he held back a groan; standing on his doorway were three of the oldest people he had ever seen, though the fourth member of the party looked to be a little younger than his dad, so he guessed that would lighten the mood somewhat, preventing his home from becoming the newest old person meetup spot in town.

“Sarutobi-san, Utatane-san, Mitokado-san, and Asuma-san – welcome! Please, come in,” Minato said warmly, stepping aside to let the four people step foot into their home, all of them removing their footwear as they stepped further inside the house. “This is my wife, Kushina,” he said as the redhead proceeded to give a small bow. “And my son, Naruto.” the blonde teen then repeating his mother’s actions.

Naruto, meanwhile was busy looking the guests over, though they weren’t much too look at in his opinion. Two of the males were Alpha, the wrinkled one and the bearded, younger looking one. The woman, was an Omega like himself and his mom, while the old man that wore glasses was a Beta. Just as he had predicted, at least two of them looked extremely stiff and traditional, making the prospects for an enjoyable night really bad for him. He obediently followed behind his mom as his father instructed their guests to sit down, the three Namikazes doing the same after them.

“You have a lovely family Namikaze-san,” the old man, Hiruzen, started with a proud smile. “This here is my grandson, Asuma, as you know, since he often helps me around the office.”

“Yes, in fact I believe Kakashi has mentioned him in passing,” Minato said, directing his gaze at the young tanned man.

“We went to school together,” the man in question replied curtly.

“High school? That would explain why I didn’t meet you earlier, if you weren’t hanging around Kakashi in college,” Minato said back, grabbing his tea cup while Asuma opted for a simple nod in response.

“Were you a professor, Namikaze-san?” Homura-san intervened, seemingly with genuine curiosity.

“Yes, I taught a few courses when I was younger, before truly venturing into politics. Kakashi Hatake became a protégé of sorts, he’s a bright Alpha.” Minato explained.

Homura-san nodded, familiar with the concept of mentorships in a college environment. Just like that the conversation flowed from the blonde Alpha’s college teachings, to Asuma, then Hiruzen, finally passing onto politics and Naruto felt like he was about to drop dead from how sleepy he was; his eyes were closing themselves subconsciously and his head was dropping slowly, however his mom kept pinching him awake, however understanding she may have been of the extremely boring nature of the conversation. Luckily, up to now, he hadn’t had any questions directed at him, which was commonplace in conversations like these, Omegas being mainly there for company, not to contribute to the bulk of the talking, that was normal for them, taking into account that it was considered bad manners for them to even interject without having been spoken too in the more traditional settings. Luckily, this allowed him to seem more subdued and docile, which he supposed grabbed the old woman’s attention, since she decided to bring him up as a topic of conversation.

“You have a very behaved child, Namikaze-san,” she started, and the blonde teen could already tell something that would grind his gears would come out of her mouth sooner or later. “I noticed only he is present though, is there perhaps another child who is not?” she asked, making Naruto frown, since he could easily predict where this was going.

“No, Naruto is our only child,” his dad said. They had already breached this topic themselves beforehand, every time Naruto had asked for a sibling in his earlier years. “However, we’re not closed off to the option of having another baby in the future.”

“I was just curious, as it is commonplace for politicians such as yourself to have an Alpha child they can groom for the position upon retirement,” she started, and Naruto internally scoffed at this, how could she imply he couldn’t become a politician like his dad just because he was an Omega? She was one herself! Albeit one of the few Omega in a position of power such as that one. “If not for that then for having a proper heir, though I suppose the idea of an heir is a little more outdated, reserved for the bigger families.” Utatane-san finished.

‘Make that sooner rather than later,’ Naruto thought to himself.

“Maa, we’re happy as we are, Naruto here is still in his second year of high school so he still has some time to decide what he wants to do after.” Minato said, smiling softly at his son.

Then, the elderly omega turned directly to Naruto, “Will you take a mate when you complete your schooling, Namikaze-chan?” She asked casually, as if taking a lifelong partner was the right decision for every omega fresh out of high school.

Naruto resisted the urge to grit his teeth and he did his best to flash a sweet but small smile, “Actually, I think I’d rather go to college instead, Utatane-san.”

“That’s acceptable, though, from what I can see, you would make a wonderful mother, Namikaze-chan.” Utatane-san said, and just like that, something broke inside of Naruto, who without saying anything else besides ‘Excuse me’ got up and left the table, going upstairs as calmly as he could, whilst a rage was building up inside of him.

Kushina herself was barely resisting the urge to tell the woman off, but she knew how much these connections meant to her husband, and though the need to stand up for her child was strong, she also knew she had to put it off in this occasion.

Minato, on the other hand, was searching for words to excuse his son’s behavior, finding himself stumped, but saying the first things that came to mind. “Utatane-san, please forgive my son’s behavior, we- he just turned fifteen, mating and children are not something we have really discussed… we don’t think he wants to think of that just now,” he tried explaining.

“It was most uncalled for Koharu, just because the child is an Omega, they shouldn’t have to be thinking of mothering children at this tender age. You shouldn’t have brought such a thing up.” Hiruzen said, making Minato and Kushina smile inwardly, glad that the elderly man had a good grasp on concepts like these, and that he had enough courage to stand up to his colleague, who only frowned in response.

The Namikazes allowed Naruto to stay upstairs for the rest of the evening, and when the small meeting had wrapped up and the guests had left expressing their gratitude, Minato gave Kushina a look that asked for forgiveness, having put their child in such a situation, while Kushina opted for going upstairs to check on their son.

When she got upstairs, she saw the door closed so she resorted for knocking, knowing that chances were their son wouldn’t want to talk. She chose to knock on the door regardless, and as she heard nothing in response she decided to knock again.

A muffled, “Go away!” was heard from inside the room.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it Naru?” Kushina countered; knowing Naruto wasn’t the type of kid to keep things to himself. She didn’t hear anything, but she decided to try one last time.

“Naru?” She knocked again. “Do you maybe want to go over to Mikoto’s with me? I’m leaving in a bit.” She tried, knowing that the answer would most likely be no, since Naruto had never gone, arguing that it would be awkward to be forced to interact with kids he didn’t know at all, but offering him the option to do something different tonight regardless, instead of leaving him to sulk.

“No thanks, have fun though,” Naruto replied from inside the room, unable to leave his mother without a response.

“Alright, we’ll talk when I get back if you’re up to it sweetie, make sure to eat something!” She called out as she went back downstairs, letting her husband know that he should keep an eye on the blonde teen.

Inside his room, Naruto had been fuming. When he had initially gone inside, he had tried his hardest to not slam the door, knowing that would piss his parents off. He was mad and sadly he had no one to scream at, so he would feel unsatisfied in his anger for a while, so instead he just opted to remove the clips from his hair and change out of the stuffy kimono, then laying on his bed, cursing the old woman out on his head, and sometimes under his breath.

Soon enough, his mom had tried to talk to him about what had happened downstairs, and this time, he declined. Usually, he’d talk to his parents about his issues, knowing them to be understanding, but he had never really gone into depth about how much he hated the societal expectations placed on him for being an Omega, knowing that his parents would feel guilty, and then maybe resentful toward his grandmother and every other family member or friend who had made him feel pressured in the past, not to mention that they’d take it as if he was feeling inadequate or uncomfortable in his secondary gender, which wouldn’t be minor. So instead, he chose to stay pissed off inside his room and on his bed, pushing his face into the pillow to avoid lashing out at his mom from annoyance. When he was asked if he wanted to go to that Mikoto woman’s house, he had blinked, vaguely recalling one of his mom’s best friends, who he had seen a couple times at their own house. She always invited him to come over, saying she had a son who was roughly his age, but he always said no, finding it awkward to be that one kid who you were forced to play with because your parents were friends with each other, not to mention that said mystery kid and himself had never met, which would only make things more awkward. So, he declined again when his own mother asked, but he wished her well, knowing to always say goodbye to someone, no matter how angry you could have been at them or in general.

When his mom left, he rolled over on his bed, staring at the white ceiling of his room, that still had a few stray glow-in-the-dark stars that his dad had helped him stick on there when he was young. He sighed and ran a hand through his blonde hair, dropping said hand next to his other one on top of his tummy. He checked his phone for the time and realized he’d have to go downstairs and get dinner soon, which also meant facing his dad and having to explain why he ran off from the table earlier.

He sighed softy, “I hate my life, ‘ttebayo.”

* * *

When Kushina Namikaze, nee Uzumaki, rang the doorbell to the Uchiha household, she was expecting her lifelong friend Mikoto to answer the door, but she smiled all the same when it was her teenage Alpha son, Sasuke, who opened the door for her instead.

“Sasuke-kun,” she greeted, smiling fondly at the raven-haired teen. “My, you’ve gotten bigger since I last saw you, ‘ttebane.”

“Hello, Kushina-san,” he said back, recognizing the red headed woman who often came by to see his mom. They didn’t see each other as often as he thought best friends would when at their age, but they were apparently both busy rather often, since from what he knew, Kushina-san was an independent fashion designer, while his own mother did a lot of charity work, collaborating with certain non-profits. “Mom is in the kitchen, please, come in.” Sasuke finished respectfully, stepping aside to let the omega woman in.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, to start, the picture above (I apologize if it causes any formatting issues for you guys), which is supposedly an early version of what Team 7 might’ve looked like, is what I based Naruto’s hair on for this fic.  
> I’m more than open to constructive criticism, so please leave comments as you see fit, and if you enjoyed this chapter, feel free to leave kudos, or bookmark it, it would mean a lot! Thank you all for reading and I’ll see you next time! Also, more Sasuke in the next chapter, this is not an entirely Naruto-centric fic!


	2. Part I: Of Friends - Chapter II: Uchiha

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you those of you who left a comment on Chapter 1, and thank you to everyone who left a kudos and kookmarked the story, it means a lot to get feedback and to see an interest in the story.  
> I’m hoping that starting Chapter 3 the story will feel less descriptive and introductory and will flow better, but for this chapter, we get to meet Sasuke more in depth and stuff.  
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto :)

“Yo, Uchiha!”

The ‘Uchiha’ in question chose to ignore the arm that wrapped itself around his shoulders as he came out of the classroom he had been inside of previously. He did however take notice of who exactly was touching him, finding Kiba to his left, with Shikamaru leaning against the lockers to his right, which meant they had been waiting for him in order to make their way to the cafeteria so they could have lunch.

“Inuzuka,” he acknowledged, nodding in greeting toward Shikamaru at the same time. “Get your arm off me.” He said, shrugging said arm off and beginning to walk toward his locker to put his things away.

“Don’t be such an ass, Sasuke. I swear you’re always annoyed dude!” The brown-haired Alpha replied.

“Maybe he’s annoyed by your disregard of our personal space?” Shikamaru tried to reason.

“Nah, he’s always like this,” Kiba said. “Sasuke! You should smile every once in a while, man.”

Sasuke just chose to sigh exasperatedly, putting his things away as the other two bickered in the background. He liked his friends, he truly did, but they just got on his nerves sometimes, and he wasn’t _that_ patient to constantly put up with Kiba’s antics. In fact, only a few years ago he had completely loathed the brunette, finding him to be extremely loud and annoying, like he was always searching for attention. Their contrasting personalities had eventually clicked though, and now they had reached an understanding, if you could call the brunette constantly trying to annoy him an understanding. To be fair though, he did participate and did find a certain type of enjoyment in their petty arguments.

On the other hand, Shikamaru Nara, the Beta, was more laid back, and they had been friends for a longer amount of time. Shikamaru was extremely smart, and he was more relaxed and less hyperactive, which suited Sasuke fine, he enjoyed having someone he could just talk with, apart from his older brother. Plus, Shikamaru didn’t come up with crazy ideas like Kiba did on a constant basis, often proposing activities that bordered on illegal for them to do; like stealing a car and going to Sunagakure, which had been Kiba’s latest frustrated attempt at ‘fun’. Basically, Shikamaru was more grounded, and while Sasuke enjoyed the contrast Kiba’s personality gave to his own, Shikamaru’s was more than appreciated in its similarity to the Uchiha’s.

When they got to their usual table after grabbing their food, it was to see Neji Hyuga, another one of their friends, already seated. Sasuke had known the pale eyed teen from early on in his childhood, having spent time with him because of the respective families they had been born into. The Uchiha and the Hyuga, in the past, had had a feud, creating a rift and longstanding rivalry between the two noble families, which were said to have participated in the founding of Konoha years and years ago. Luckily for them, the rivalry ended with their generation, with his father Fugaku and the ‘head’ of the Hyuga clan, Hiashi, reaching an agreement of sorts, making their children friends by consequence. Like with Shikamaru, their personalities were somewhat similar in some ways, but they clashed often, the both of them being a bit too prideful to admit wrongdoing whenever something went awry.

Finally, when all four of them were settled and eating their food, Kiba decided to propose another arguably awful idea, looking awfully smug about it too, like he always did, since he thought they weren’t dumb at all; on the contrary, they were great in his opinion, and to him, the other guys were just cowards.

“So, fellas, how about we go to that Kaguya Institute after school and pick up some babes, eh?” He started, but he didn’t get far, since all three other boys were ready to question him and shoot his newest proposal down.

“Why would we even do that? There’s girls here if you want to get a girlfriend, Kiba.” Shikamaru replied, poking at his food, thoroughly unenthused about Kiba’s brand new plan.

“Because, Shikamaru, the girls here already know us, and honestly? They’re a little boring, man. I mean, I know you like Ino and all, but I’m more interested in Omegas, and we have a much better chance of finding a good Omega there, rather than here where there’s like, three in total.” Kiba explained, clearly thinking this made perfect sense.

“My cousin goes there, so forget it.” Neji intervened, already looking somewhat angry.

“That’s the point, Hyuga. Hinata happens to be a total babe!” The brown haired Alpha exclaimed, awfully unaware of his coming demise.

While a new petty argument broke out for the second time in the day because of Kiba, Sasuke was frowning to himself. He was comfortable with his secondary gender, since, as an Alpha, he was almost never really bothered about it by others, but he wondered if what he was seeing right now from Kiba was how other people saw _him_ , as brash, uncaring and as someone who treated Omegas like objects, just because he was an Alpha himself. He didn’t really have any close Omega friends he could talk to about things like this, but he was sure they probably wouldn’t like being treated the way Alphas like Kiba would treat them if given the chance to interact with them.

When he was done spacing out, he noticed more of their friends approaching the table, namely Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka. Back in middle school both girls had had a crush on him, annoying him to death with their stalking and bad attempts at flirting. Though he knew Sakura’s crush on him lingered, her behavior had changed, and they got along well now. He saw both girls take a seat on the remaining seats of their table, setting their things down with them.

“Hi Sasuke-kun!” Sakura chirped, Ino waving at him but choosing to focus more on Shikamaru instead.

“Hn.” He replied, offering nothing more to the Alpha girl. The pinkette pouted but sat down, choosing to not be pushy this time, which always seemed to be her default setting when around the Uchiha.

* * *

When his school day had finally been done and over with, he had headed straight home, not surprised that no one was home when he headed inside. His father was always busy with the family business, which in their case, consisted of a pretty robust communications company, which had started branching out from Konoha several years ago. While his father was busy directing said company, his mother was busy working on her own professional endeavors, no longer feeling the need to be a stay at home mom, since Itachi had moved out for college three prior and Sasuke was old enough to care for himself. The young Alpha felt somewhat abandoned though, his only salvation being their dog Shiro.

Shiro always came to the door to greet him excitedly, that day being no different. He crouched down on one knee to hug the incoming pup who was running toward him. He felt Shiro lick his face and he chuckled, petting his head and his sides.

“Hey, Shiro. Did you miss me?” He asked his beloved dog, who began barking and running in circles inside the house.

“I see Shiro got to you before I could,”

Sasuke stood up and saw his brother standing there, which made his eyes widen in surprise, since his brother hadn’t been home for quite a while. His brother, Itachi, had been his favorite person to spend time with – had been because he had left, thus they didn’t spend as much time together anymore. Sure, the older Alpha teased him endlessly about one thing or another, but since he was little, he had always admired the older black-haired boy, following him around and asking to play together, only to earn himself a forehead poke, his brother’s signature move.

“Nii-san,” he smiled fondly at the older Uchiha, going up to him for a hug that was eagerly returned. “I’ve missed you.” He said unashamed, always having been transparent with the affection he held for his big brother. And while they did talk on the regular through the phone, seeing Itachi in person was completely different to him.

“I’ve missed you too, otouto,” his brother replied, ruffling the younger’s hair and earning himself a lighthearted scowl for it. “Have you been staying out of trouble?” He asked.

“You know it, nii-san. Are you staying?”

“Hn. A few weeks at least. I’ll make sure you get tired of me,” Itachi started, poking Sasuke’s forehead. “I do have to be somewhere in a bit now though, I’ll be back tonight, just don’t tell Mom or Dad I’m home, I want to surprise them.”

“Hn,” he grunted in response, watching as his older brother left through the front door. When the door closed, he let out a small sigh and he glanced down at their puppy. “Guess it’s just you and me again, Shiro.”

Later on in the day, when his mom had already arrived and he had been doing his homework in his room, he heard the doorbell ring from downstairs. He pushed himself back from the desk and started heading for the door, knowing his mom was busy in the kitchen to go herself. As he was coming down the stairs, his mom called out to him, saying something along the lines of, ‘Sasuke, can you get that?!’, which he chose to not respond to, just going straight for the entryway instead.

He opened the door rather forcefully, expecting one of their numerous and rather annoying neighbors to be standing there for one reason or another. Instead, he was greeted by a familiar head of bright red hair - the person to which the hair belonged to choosing to greet him instantly with confidence only acquired through the different occasions where they had already met.

“Sasuke-kun,” she greeted, smiling fondly at the raven-haired teen. “My, you’ve gotten bigger since I last saw you, ‘ttebane.”

“Hello, Kushina-san,” he said back, recognizing the red headed woman who often came by to see his mom. They didn’t see each other as often as he thought best friends would when at their age, but they were apparently both busy rather often, since from what he knew, Kushina-san was an independent fashion designer, while his own mother did a lot of charity work, collaborating with certain non-profits. “Mom is in the kitchen, please, come in.” Sasuke finished respectfully, stepping aside to let the omega woman in.

As she made her way to the kitchen, he chose to follow, his mom and Kushina-san having engaged in conversation already, talking rather animatedly, probably because they had not seen each other in a good amount of time. While they talked, he opened the fridge and served himself a drink, rummaging around the kitchen for a quick snack; and as he did this, he caught part of their conversation, having missed the beginning of it by then.

“I’m telling you Mikoto, it was really awful. I mean, at first it wasn’t that bad, but then this woman started badgering him about how he should behave and if he would marry and all that, and all I could do was stand there and do nothing! She just kept going on and on, he ended up storming off, and then he locked himself in his room, I just- I didn’t know what to do! I feel like I left my baby to the wolves.” Kushina said, hiding her face in her hands, both Omega women seated by the kitchen table.

Out of the corner of his eye Sasuke saw his mother frown, but he chose to keep his gaze on the sandwich he was making for himself.

“I think he would benefit from maybe being friends with some Betas – maybe even an Alpha. Why don’t you bring him here Kushina?” Mikoto reasoned.

“I’ve tried, I ask all the time and he always says no,” Kushina said with a sigh. “I really regret placing him in that school sometimes, I feel like he’ll end up resenting his nature, and I don’t want him to live like that!”

“Madara is really similar to that old woman you’re telling me about, but at the end of the day, he’s just a grouchy old man, he just has different beliefs, and he’ll always rant about them. I just think Naru has to learn to ignore it, he’ll face people’s comments all his life, you know.”

“I don’t know, Mikoto. He’s always cared a little too much about what people think about him, he just thrives on attention, and he’s scared to disappoint.”

Sasuke had already been leaving the room when his mom had last spoken, barely paying attention as they talked about whatever it is forty-year-old women talk about. He hoped he wouldn’t be talking about mundane and boring things when he was that age, the young Alpha thought to himself as he pushed open the door to his room with his shoulder, setting down the glass and the plate he had been holding on his desk.

He sat himself down and chose to take a break from homework, opting to engage in one of his guilty pleasures instead, their city’s anonymous chatroom. He had become aware of its existence a few months ago from Kiba, who had become aware of it from Shikamaru, who in turn supposedly knew the creator of the website.

He felt his phone vibrate on the desk and took notice that Karin had sent him a text; he made a mental reminder to reply to her later, typing in his username for the chatroom instead of replying right away. He went through a few unmemorable people, even matching up with Sakura at some point, recognizing the username right away. Since it was a somewhat small city, there weren’t that many teenagers using the site, so you were bound to run into a few usernames that seemed familiar, the only way to escape constant recognition yourself being making another account.

Finally, though, after skipping a good amount of people, he came across a username he didn’t recognize and who didn’t skip right away, which meant they could talk.

_[Menma012607]: um, hey!_

_[Shiro012606]: Hey._

_[Menma012607]: so, how are you? I gotta be honest this is like my first time chatting on here, I made my account a while back but I never really used it until now, so, yea_

Sasuke’s first thought was that this person, who he assumed was a guy by the username, was chatty - this made him groan because the other person would probably feel like he was not interested in comparison, since he wasn’t as expressive in his texting.

_[Shiro012606]: I’m fine, you?_

_[Menma012607]: uh, I’m good thanks for asking you cold bastard, you could say more than two words at a time, yanno_

_[Shiro012606]: Dobe. I just don’t like writing more than necessary._

_[Menma012607]: what did you just call me??? wtf_

_[Menma012607]: ur such a bastard_

Sasuke gave a small smirk to himself, content with riling this stranger up – the feeling so familiar to teasing Kiba, who got just as easily irritated. He also got reminded of Karin, who began calling him a bastard when she lost the silly crush she had had on him, realizing how his personality was not what she had been looking for in the first place.

_[Shiro012606]: That’s what one of my friends calls me too, says it’s an Alpha thing._

_[Menma012607]: well its not, its just a bastard thing_

_[Shiro012606]: Why so quick to defend Alphas?_

_[Menma012607]: I just don’t like gender stereotypes or whatever, they’re dumb_

The young Uchiha raised his brow when he read this, finding that line of thinking somewhat rare in his circle and age group.

_[Shiro012606]: What are you then?_

There was a long pause and Sasuke thought to disconnect, then he saw the indicator that the other user was typing, only for said indicator to go away for a bit and then come back, this happening twice more. Finally, a message came through, way too short for all the time it took the other to respond.

_[Menma012607]: beta_

Sasuke once more raised his brow, since Betas didn’t really experience any stereotypes around their gender, so he guessed this person meant stereotypes surrounding being a guy or a girl, and that was just extended to being an Alpha, Beta or Omega – no double standards, right?

_[Shiro012606]: What was that about typing two words at a time?_

_[Menma012607]: shuddup teme, what else do you expect me to say to that question_

_[Shiro012606]: Whatever, so, how old are you?_

_[Menma012607]: 15, you?_

_[Shiro012606]: 16. What’s your name? I’m hoping it’s not actually Menma, being named after a ramen ingredient would make you even more of a dobe._

_[Menma012607]: im not named after food teme!! my name is Naruto, as in maelstrom. whats urs??_

Sasuke, on his end, really held in the urge to snicker, something he didn’t do often in the first place. It was just rich that the boy – now definitely a boy with a name like Naruto – said he wasn’t named after a ramen ingredient like menma was, but then revealed his real name, which was also a ramen ingredient. On the back of his mind, he was somewhat worried about the fact that he was about to give out his name to a stranger who now also knew his age and where he was from, but he decided to go for it anyway.

_[Shiro012606]: Sasuke._

And now that he thought about it, a beta only had one option for school in Konoha, since they obviously couldn’t go to that Omega Institute, or the Alpha-only school that was located on the outskirts of the city; which meant that the name Naruto should’ve been recognizable to him, since the boy would be in his grade or one below, but the name didn’t ring any bells.

_[Shiro012606]: So, why haven’t I seen you around school? I feel like I would notice a dobe like you._

_[Menma012607]: im homeschooled_

_[Shiro012606]: Isn’t that a little boring? Sure, you don’t have to go to school but you miss out on seeing your friends every day._

_[Menma012607]: yea… it sucks, everythings always the same, I wish I could meet more people! for real!_

_[Shiro012606]: Hn. Dobe._

After this they talked for what seemed like hours. Sasuke vaguely took notice of Kushina-san leaving, but he didn’t get to say goodbye, too engrossed in the conversation taking place on his screen. This ‘Naruto’ was definitely a moron, whose spelling had gotten progressively worse with each message from when they had first started chatting, and who just talked way too much in general. Nonetheless, the boy was interesting, if a bit sheltered, and when they had talked about homeschooling, he had jokingly promised to broaden the boy’s horizons, showing him what there was to see beyond his own house. That had been a joke but as their conversation progressed and they eventually exchanged numbers, the promise seemed more real. He actually had a desire to show Naruto what he was missing out on, since from what he gathered the boy didn’t seem to have many friends to begin with. In the end, they had ended up chatting well past midnight, way too late for a school night, but he couldn’t deny he had been having fun.

_[Menma012607]: teme, I have to sleep now. txt me whenever yea?_

_[Shiro012606]: I will, dobe._

_[Menma012607]: ugh I hate u already, ok byee!_

_[Menma012607] disconnected._

Sasuke chuckled lightly as Naruto disconnected, the promise of them meeting up eventually lingering in the air. By the end of the conversation, Sasuke had felt like they had already known each other for years, a lasting friendship existing between them with a dynamic that seemed so familiar yet so foreign - light banter that made him act out of character being the centerpiece.

He pulled away from the computer and decided to flop onto his bed, staring at the ceiling for a while. Normally, he was a pretty closed off person, and making new friends wasn’t easy, despite the amount of people who had made an approach on different occasions, wanting to befriend him; back in Otogakure he had only really gotten along with Karin, Jugo and Suigetsu, and warming up to his current friends in Konoha had taken a while. The fact that he had so easily clicked with this stranger scared him to some extent, but moreover it was exciting, and the thrill of it left his heart beating at a quick pace as he stayed sprawled out on his bed.

Moments later, he vaguely heard the doorknob twist, the door following suit and opening itself, his brother now standing on the doorway to his room.

“Itachi,” he acknowledged, then he panicked as he remembered the still-turned-on computer screen that contained an entire conversation’s worth of blackmail material for his brother to use. He was too late to stop his brother from reaching the computer though, the older Uchiha slowly turning to him with a mischievous smile.

“Maa, what have we here? You know giving strangers personal information is bad, otouto.” His brother said in a teasing tone, approaching the younger Alpha.

“It’s none of your business, Itachi.” Sasuke said, lightly glaring at his big brother.

“It is if you’re going to be flirting with a random person online.” Itachi responded.

“It’s not flirting!”

“Really? These pet names seem like flirting to me, ‘Dobe’ and ‘Teme’? That’s pretty cute otouto, if a bit aggressive. Your new friend may respond better to nicer words though,” The older said mockingly, poking Sasuke on the forehead as usual. “Well, I’ll leave you be, I do however hope you didn’t befriend a serial killer, Sasuke.” He finished, walking out with a self-satisfied smirk.

Sasuke flipped him off when he left and when he was sure Itachi wouldn’t see, then he flopped back onto the bed with a contemplative look on his face. He usually wouldn’t let Itachi’s teasing get to him, but his brother had a point in there somewhere; beneath all the lighthearted mocking. He had gotten overexcited over befriending someone he seemed to connect to so well, but, despite that, he’d have to be somewhat careful, after all, they had met only a few hours ago, and there was still much they didn’t know about each other.

He was hopeful though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that’s it for this one, it’s a little shorter than the previous chapter I think, but it served its purpose in my opinion. Sasuke is sweet but he has his issues too, which I’m hoping to explore more in the following chapters. And yes! They meet online, I don’t know why, but I’m a sucker for those text exchanges, they may not make for the most sophisticated or complex literary passages but I think they’re fun, plus it allows me to show some love to those who do meet people online and it works out for them so there.  
> Like I said in the note before the chapter, next chapter will be much less descriptive and introductory to the characters, which I’m excited for, but I was also glad to have gone about it the way I did while still leaving plenty to discover about the characters along the way.  
> If you enjoyed you can leave a Kudos or a comment and bookmark this story if you wanna keep up with it or whatever. Thank you all so much and I’ll see you next time!


	3. Part I: Of Friends - Chapter III: Ill-Conceived Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! First, thanks to all of you who have given kudos and bookmarked and subscribed to the story or whatnot, and to those who commented, a special thanks! Now, for this chapter, I’m happy to be done with the more introductory kind of writing, with the more basic information about the characters already given, so now I want to start with more character development and of course with furthering the plot, anyway I really hope you all enjoy! Also, I had a slight formatting issue with the AN and End notes for Chapter 2, but I’m pretty sure it’s fixed now.  
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto :)

After sneaking into the kitchen and getting dinner all while avoiding his dad successfully and preventing a confrontation, the blonde teen decided to do something to get his mind off what had been a kind of shitty day in his opinion. There was nothing good playing on TV, so instead he opted for going online, specifically on Konoha’s chatroom he had discovered a while ago but had been too anxious to actually use, despite having created an account for it a while back.

He heard scratching at his door and smiled softly to himself, knowing who would be there. He went and opened it, letting their orange tabby, Kurama, into the room. He bent down and picked the feline up, petting him as he headed for his bed. “Where have you been Kurama? You’ve been missing for two days now.” He said, grumbling to himself, always getting a little anxious when their adventurous little cat didn’t come back home after an entire day outside doing god knows what.

He got in bed with Kurama settled by his side and purring softly, with his laptop on his lap, choosing to be comfy instead of being possibly uncomfortable on his desk. He got on the site and ended up having a good amount of comically bad conversations; he internally groaned, asking himself how people could be so dry, like, yes it was harder to emote through text, but they weren’t even trying! He promised himself he would only have one more conversation on the site, and when he got matched with someone, he sent a hesitant but cheery greeting.

_[Menma012607]: um, hey!_

_[Shiro012606]: Hey._

_[Menma012607]: so, how are you? I gotta be honest this is like my first time chatting on here, I made my account a while back but I never really used it until now, so, yea_

_[Shiro012606]: I’m fine, you?_

Naruto groaned aloud this time, finding this stranger to be just as dry as ninety percent of the previous people he had matched with before, which made him disappointed, because he had been hoping for someone to cheer him up – even if that someone was a stranger, and apparently he was getting the opposite, which had him fed up at this point.

_[Menma012607]: uh, I’m good thanks for asking you cold bastard, you could say more than two words at a time, yanno_

_[Shiro012606]: Dobe. I just don’t like writing more than necessary._

At reading that, his jaw literally dropped. This random stranger was calling him a loser, and a dead last. If they were face to face, instead of with screens separating them, he was sure that he would’ve jumped the bastard; no one had ever called him something like that so plainly.

_[Menma012607]: what did you just call me??? wtf_

_[Menma012607]: ur such a bastard_

_[Shiro012606]: That’s what one of my friends calls me too, says it’s an Alpha thing._

At this, his anger at the stranger diminished a bit, and he huffed, having to face more non-sensical secondary gender stereotypes today, a day that had been practically filled with them. So, it was safe to say he wasn’t all that happy to see this stranger receiving the same treatment, only as an Alpha, which is what he presumed the other person was, based on the comment they made.

_[Menma012607]: well its not, its just a bastard thing_

_[Shiro012606]: Why so quick to defend Alphas?_

_[Menma012607]: I just don’t like gender stereotypes or whatever, they’re dumb_

_[Shiro012606]: What are you then?_

His first instinct, when faced with this question, was of course to reply with his secondary gender, which he did, writing down ‘ _omega’_ in the chat box without thinking much of it, but before hitting send, he paused. His heart started beating a tad bit faster, for reasons he didn’t know, and he questioned if saying that he was an Omega was really the best choice in _this_ context – he was trying to make a friend, not engage in flirting, which was something that commonly happened in this site, and being an Omega would make that more probable, and if flirting wasn’t what the stranger would default to, it was possible he’d be judged for it too. Maybe the other person didn’t want to be friends with an Omega, which was common in Alphas, so then, he wrote down ‘ _why do you care?’,_ but he quickly deleted that too; not only did it come off as aggressive, it was also awfully suspicious, and it would only make the stranger question him. Finally, though, and with slightly sweaty palms – because lying was not his nature, even online – he responded.

_[Menma012607]: beta_

_[Shiro012606]: What was that about typing two words at a time?_

_[Menma012607]: shuddup teme, what else do you expect me to say to that question_

_[Shiro012606]: Whatever, so, how old are you?_

At this, his mind quickly went to his mom, who had so often told him not to share personal information with strangers, not even online, but he dismissed it, because firstly, he wasn’t feeling up to being a goody two shoes at that moment, and he’d rather not lose this stranger who he was actually somewhat getting along with, so he just went for it.

_[Menma012607]: 15, you?_

_[Shiro012606]: 16. What’s your name? I’m hoping it’s not actually Menma, being named after a ramen ingredient would make you even more of a dobe._

His eye twitched at the accusation, and he cursed his middle name in his head, the one he had opted for using as his username on the website.

_[Menma012607]: im not named after food teme!! my name is Naruto, as in maelstrom. whats urs??_

_[Shiro012606]: Sasuke._

_[Shiro012606]: So, why haven’t I seen you around school? I feel like I would notice a dobe like you._

As he read that message, he started feeling frustrated. One of the reasons he didn’t like lying, was because one lie only led to him having to tell another lie, and then another and then another, until eventually it all blew up in his face, or he went an insane amount of time having to keep up with the lie in his brain, which would constantly bother him. He knew – obviously – that he couldn’t tell the stranger, now named Sasuke, that he went to the school he actually went to, since he had told the Alpha that he was a Beta himself, and that also left out the Alpha-only school in Konoha as an option, so, since Sasuke, very logically thought they’d have to attend the same school, and had mentioned never seeing him before, his only way out was to lie again.

_[Menma012607]: im homeschooled_

_[Shiro012606]: Isn’t that a little boring? Sure, you don’t have to go to school, but you miss out on seeing your friends every day._

_[Menma012607]: yea… it sucks, everythings always the same, I wish I could meet more people! for real!_

Now that, wasn’t a lie – well, partially. He wasn’t homeschooled so the foundation for the statement was a lie he supposed, but it was true that he wanted to meet more people, especially people who were not Omega, which currently made up most of his friend pool.

_[Shiro012606]: Hn. Dobe._

In the end, they ended up talking for hours, with the Alpha having promised to meet up sometime, which he figured was a joke of sorts, but had made him giddy and excited all the same, his tummy twisting uncomfortably in that way it did when he was looking forward to something. They even exchanged numbers, and from the way they had connected and had been able to talk about anything and everything with each other so seamlessly, they would probably be texting a lot in the future, which he was maybe way too happy about. When it was around an hour after midnight, the young Omega heard a knock on his door, his dad asking why he wasn’t asleep yet. “Sorry! I’ll turn the lights off in a bit!” He called back, shifting his gaze back at the screen and typing out a quick message.

_[Menma012607]: teme, I have to sleep now. txt me whenever yea?_

_[Shiro012606]: I will, dobe._

And there was the dreaded nickname again, though, this time, he didn’t mind it as much, and in fact, the blonde was lightly smiling, instead of the irritated look he had had on his face when he had first been on the receiving end of the word ‘dobe’.

_[Menma012607]: ugh I hate u already, ok byee!_

_[Menma012607] disconnected._

As he finally disconnected, he sighed softly to himself, closing the laptop and leaving it on his desk, turning the lights in his room off as he walked back toward his bed. He cuddled himself back into the covers and looked out the partially open curtains, into the starry night and he wondered what he had gotten himself into. He figured he could never really meet up with Sasuke, due to the lies he had told, but then again, he really wanted to see the other teen in person. Under normal circumstances, he’d be freaking out about the messy situation he had created for himself, but he was too tired to do that now, though he was sure he would later. With that said, the blonde Omega shut his eyes, and fell asleep shortly thereafter.

* * *

Over the course of the next two weeks, he texted back and forth with Sasuke almost every day, for hours on end. At some points, he almost forgot the lies he had told, almost outing himself as an Omega, and it broke something inside him to have to lie constantly, but also not to be able to share real situations that frustrated him or made him happy with a friend, because doing so would expose the fact that he was not a Beta. Regardless, he had found himself in an almost constant state of bliss, being able to ignore the fact that meeting the other teen would most likely end in disaster, thus, he remained content with just texting. However, being the talkative boy he was, he just couldn’t keep it all to himself, so he decided to confide in Hinata, who was currently next to him, the both of them sitting under a tree in between classes.

“Hina, I need to tell you something, just- don’t judge me,” he started, looking at her and then down, feeling uncharacteristically shy in a way, something he rarely was, but he didn’t think he could take it if his closest friend thought that what he had done was a mistake. He fiddled with the hem of his school sweater and when she didn’t respond he pressed on. “Please?” He pleaded in a soft tone, knowing she’d crumble if he acted sweet, having to then listen to something she’d probably prefer to keep herself out of, as was common with his antics.

“Wh-what is it?” Hinata replied somewhat hesitantly.

There was a pause and the blonde Omega hesitated himself, already regretting bringing this up, and thinking that maybe he should’ve kept it to himself.

“I sort of met a guy…” He explained.

“A b-boyfriend?” The Hyuga questioned, slightly red in the face but inching closer to the blonde, clearly interested in what he was sharing to some extent.

Instantly, Naruto retreated, trying to get away from the pale girl in front of him, and blushing madly. He sputtered and tried to find the words to respond to _that_.

“It’s not like that! Just- just a friend Hinata! Jeez…” He replied, calming down somewhat and inching closer to his friend again, not wanting others to listen in to their conversation.

“So wh-what’s the p-problem?”

“I- might’ve lied to him when we met and I told him I was a Beta and we met online so he doesn’t know I’m lying and we’ll probably meet up sometime and he’ll be able to tell I’m an Omega and I don’t know what to do about it because what if he doesn’t want to be my friend because I lied or worse because I’m an Omega and he’s an Alpha and oh god- what if he thinks I did it to get with him? Because I didn’t Hinata you have to believe me I just wanted to get to know someone who isn’t an Omega and I really really messed up and I don’t know what I’m going to do, I- you have to help me Hinata, please!” Naruto said all in one breath, which was not unusual for him, often ranting in the same way about different things; in fact, this one in particular had been relatively short compared to his regular venting about ramen or school or his grandma.

“Y-you told him you were a Beta?”

“Yes, Hina!” He cried.

“W-what are you going to d-do if- if you meet in p-person? He’ll b-be able to tell that- that you’re an Omega.” Hinata replied, looking troubled.

“I don’t know! Really I just wanted to tell someone.” The blonde responded.

“Tell someone what?” They heard from behind them, and the two teens turned around to see Gaara and Haku coming up to them.

“N-nothing!” Naruto replied, in a louder than necessary voice, trying to keep his secret between Hinata and himself.

Gaara raises an invisible eyebrow in response and sits himself next to Hinata, Haku taking a seat closer to the blonde. Naruto in response shifts back a little, already anxious about the upcoming interrogation he’s about to face, and to be fair, Gaara was downright intimidating under certain circumstances, so he felt justified in his actions, because when he wanted to get information, the redhead was ruthless.

“So, you’re acting all nervous over nothing?” The redheaded Omega replied.

“Ne, Naruto, we’re your friends, do you not trust us?” Haku said, taking a different – more gentle approach when in comparison to their mint eyed friend.

At hearing this, the blonde bit down on his bottom lip gently, a coping mechanism he had developed for when he nervous. He wanted to tell his friends, truly, he did. But he also had to think logically, and for that same reason he had chosen Hinata to share his secret to, knowing she wouldn’t push him to abandon his newfound friendship. On the other hand, if Gaara and Haku discovered his situation, it was almost guaranteed that they’d make an effort to make him walk away before getting himself into more trouble, Gaara especially – the redhead would not rest until Naruto had cut ties with the Alpha. A part of him knew that Gaara would be right to want him to stop what he was doing, because even he knew it was stupid, but the truth was he just did not want to ruin what he had going with Sasuke. With all that taken into consideration, he made a decision.

“I want to get a job this summer, that’s all.” Naruto said, giving Gaara a sheepish smile. Inside though, he was frowning – because _great_ , he just told another lie.

“A job,” the redhead questioned, a flat tone to his voice.

“Yup!”

“What for? Are you saving up for something?” Haku interjected.

“Uhm, not really! But I’ll have money to spare later,” the blonde Omega explained.

“And less time to spend with us and your family, who - by the way - give you a weekly allowance.” Gaara countered.

“You’re right Gaara! I guess I’m not gonna look for a job anymore!” Naruto said with a nervous laugh.

Then there was a somewhat awkward silence that settled in the group, and when Gaara opened his mouth – no doubt to press on, seeing right through the blonde, the bell rang, signaling that it was time for their next class.

“Well, time for class! I’ll see you guys later!” The blonde said with clearly fake enthusiasm, grabbing his things and heading off to his solo writing class, missing the knowing looks and unspoken words interchanged by his friends once he had turned his back to them.

And once he was at a safe distance, he slumped against the wall, breathing a small sigh of relief and thinking to himself that he was saved by the bell, as cliché as that was.

* * *

During the following days, Sasuke and him kept talking with the same enthusiasm as before, even going as far as calling each other one time – which had worried him initially, because could you even tell if someone was an Omega from their voice? He didn’t think so, but you can never be really sure. In the end, he shrugged off his insecurities and had fully been himself in the call, feeling an even better connection with Sasuke, who he had now discovered sounded exactly how he had expected him to sound, serious with a deep tone that could make whatever was coming out of his mouth sound downright mean sometimes, but he knew better from their conversations; dobe was not a serious insult.

As he was sitting on his bed talking to the Alpha on the phone, and taking into consideration the amount of hours they spent talking, he thought if other people looking in would see it as the friendship he knew he had with Sasuke; they’d probably think it was some sort of romantic relationship, like Hinata had at first. He could understand why someone would think that, but for him, he was just thoroughly enjoying the novelty of speaking with an Alpha who was his age – one he really got along with and could connect to on top of that, though he had to admit he did not know Sasuke’s own reasons for maintaining such a close friendship with him.

Following the call they had, and during one of their usual conversations they had through text, Sasuke mentioned meeting up, meaning they’d see each other in person. When the blonde read the message, he just stared at his phone’s screen for a couple seconds, then the reality of the situation fully hit him, and his breathing quickened ever so slightly.

_‘i need to go’,_ he sent back quickly and without thinking, wanting to just drop his phone and panic in peace. He dropped the phone on his bed, and he grabbed onto the sheets, twisting them in his palms and staring at the black screen, hoping the other teen would just leave it and not press the topic. Unfortunately for him, the device vibrated, the screen flashing back to life.

‘ _If you don’t want to meet in person you can just say so, dobe.’_ He read and he had the urge to slap himself, of course telling the Alpha that he had to go with no explanation would be no good for him – he’d expect some sort of explanation or an actual admission that he didn’t want to meet, which he didn’t want to do because he _did_ want to see the other teen face to face, but he couldn’t say that either.

_‘i do, its not that. i just really have to go right now’_ The blonde replied, plopping the phone back down on the bed and burying his face into his hands, feeling frustrated and worried, wanting nothing more than to be let go of what felt like a confrontation to him.

The phone vibrated again, and he checked it swiftly.

‘ _Fine, I’ll text you later.’_ It read, and for a second, he worried about having hurt the Alpha somehow, but he decided to ignore that in favor of the current crisis he was facing. With the conversation ended, he quickly stood up and paced around the room for a while, feeling utterly lost. Then, he went downstairs and outside to their backyard, sitting himself down at the sole swing that hung from the branch of a sturdy tree; the swing his dad had built for him years ago. He sighed to himself and just settled for staring at his feet that were freely suspended and moving gently back and forth. Sitting there only seemed to frustrate him more though, and after being in the same spot swinging aimlessly for what felt like hours to him, he began feeling the sting of tears in his eyes, which made him paw at his face; he didn’t want to cry because of this.

“I really ruined things for myself, huh,” he muttered under his breath, releasing a soft and self-deprecating laugh. “What the hell am I going to do.”

* * *

That weekend, Naruto had arrived home late after staying at Haku’s place, only to see his cousin Deidara in the living room, chatting with his mom. For some reason he’d come to regret later, he had decided to take a long look at said cousin, and in a matter of seconds, an extremely stupid had been formed in his head, however; the plan his brain had concocted had the chance to solve the problem he was facing when it came to how he would meet up with Sasuke. With his mind made, he put on his best poker face and approached both Omegas sitting comfortably in the living room.

“Tadaima! Hi Dei-nii!” He called out as he set his stuff down on the couch, plopping himself on it too.

“Okaeri, Naruto.” Kushina said gently.

“Hi brat, you’re looking as short as ever.” The other blonde teased, making Naruto pout slightly. Sure, Deidara was tall unlike him, but he didn’t get to tease him every time just because of it.

“And here I was, happy to see you.” Naruto complained.

“Awh, don’t be like that!” Deidara replied, pulling the blonde in for a hug, and from his vantage point over the older Omega’s shoulder, Naruto could finally make out the other’s small backpack lying on the floor by the couch, something he had not been able to get a clear view of earlier.

“Deidara-kun, will you help with that food I mentioned?” His mom interjected, pulling Deidara into the kitchen with her.

Now he had a perfect opportunity to take the first step in his idiotic plan, and he had even thought to back out, but now his mom had given him the window he needed to do it, so he had no excuse really. With one last look toward the kitchen, he quickly opened Deidara’s backpack and with a speed he didn’t know he possessed, took the blonde’s driver’s license, zipped the bag back up and started going up the staircase after grabbing his things.

“I’ll be in my room, Mom!” he called out quickly, before racing up the stairs and into his room, closing and locking the door behind him. He held the driver’s license close to his chest and sat down on his bed, the adrenaline already coursing through his veins. He already partially regretted what he had started, and was somewhat tempted to go downstairs to hand the older Omega his ID back with an apologetic bow – but, he knew he was in it for the long-haul now; the long-haul being _tonight_ , because there was no way he’d wait any longer than that same Saturday night, he would for certain end up chickening out if he didn’t go through with the entire plan before the day was over. He knew he was incredibly nervous – and that it would only get worse, but he had to deal with it for now and keep up appearances until he got the chance to further his plan.

When he was called down for dinner, he placed the ID under his pillow and went downstairs trying his best to look as innocent as he could. He saw his dad there too and said hello, the Alpha giving him a simple greeting but preferring to gush over his nephew instead of giving the younger blonde the usual attention he got. Throughout their meal, he could barely look Deidara in the eyes, choosing to keep his gaze down so he wouldn’t be consumed by guilt. He could tell his mom was somewhat confused by his behavior considering he had been nothing if not cheery when he had gotten home, only for that to abruptly change.

An hour or so later, Deidara went home and he felt a little relief at that, but he still felt an overwhelming feeling of nervousness, knowing what he had to do next; which he was not looking forward to at all. Following his cousin leaving, he sat patiently in his room until his parents went to bed and he was certain they were asleep. When he was completely sure they were in dreamland, he quickly went into his bedroom and applied some makeup to his cheeks, expertly hiding his whisker birthmarks like he had done before for the purpose of pranks. When that was done, he put on a big faded orange hoodie and pulled the hood over his head, checking his backpack one last time for all the things he needed.

He went downstairs making as little noise as possible and headed for the backdoor that led to their garden, knowing this was the only door that would let him get outside without waking up his parents if he opened it in the middle of the night. He put his hand over the doorknob and saw it tremble slightly. He stopped himself before opening it, and took a minute to question if what he was doing was a good idea – the answer was that no, it wasn’t but he had to do it. He knew this wasn’t like him at all though, he had never slipped away from home in the middle of the night, not even to hang out with friends. He thought of why he was doing this though, and when his brain fed him that this was a possibility of saving his friendship with Sasuke from imminent death, he turned the doorknob with none of his previous hesitation.

When walking through the barely lit, seemingly abandoned sidewalks his first thought was that it was cold, making him cross his arms over his chest, seeking more warmth from his hoodie. His second thought was that walking alone in this area was _somewhat_ dangerous. Sure, he lived in a safe neighborhood, but he begrudgingly admitted to himself that being an Omega put him at a higher risk of being kidnapped or raped or any of those other crimes you heard about in the news. Thinking about that made him nervous, and he tried to bring himself closer to the light illuminating the concrete path, however, he knew he was more nervous about this plan he had made up; going through with it and the repercussions it would have – he didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing.

Finally, after minutes of walking with chilly air biting at his cheeks and nose, he made it inside one of his local pharmacies, breathing a sigh of relief at the heat he found inside. His arrival had made a small bell sound, but it seemed the only person working could not be bothered to even look at him, seemingly too tired, which in the end was a good thing. He gave a few laps inside the small space, pretending to glance at the products on the shelves, and when he finally gathered enough courage, he approached the counter. He stared at the woman for a handful of seconds, completely forgetting to say hello or something, his brain choosing to fail him completely.

“Yes?” He heard the unenthusiastic woman ask.

“Sorry, uhm. I need scent suppressants. The 24-hour fast-acting ones.” He replied, hoping he didn’t come off as awkward as he felt he was being.

She walked off behind the counter leaving him to lightly rock himself back and forth on his heels, glancing around the pharmacy nervously before she returned just as quickly as she had left, a medium sized branded cardboard package in her left hand.

“These ones good?” She asked gruffly, holding up the box of suppressants.

“Uh, yeah.” Naruto answered, taking into account that it had more doses than he thought he’d need, therefore being more expensive, but the shorter he made this the better. There was a lesser chance of her asking for ID or a prescription, both things needed to purchase suppressants of any kind.

“ID?” She asked, interrupting his line of thought. He cursed softly to himself and fished in his backpack for the driver’s license he had swiped earlier in the day, handing it over to the woman without a word, hoping she wouldn’t notice his shaky hands. She seemed to go over it for a while, looking at him then back to the small piece of plastic she was holding.

“I decided to cut it, still can’t tell if I regret it or not,” he said with a nervous laugh, referring to the difference in hair she was probably conflicted by, though he didn’t truly even know if she had completely busted him and was only playing along, or if she truly thought he was the 20 year old Omega in the ID. He hoped she wasn’t just laughing at him, because while she may have been completely calm, he felt like his heart was beating out of his chest.

After what felt like the most painful single minute of his life, in which he felt like he was being suffocated, the woman handed back the ID and rung up the box of suppressants, allowing him to see the full price of the product. He winced and softly bit down on his bottom lip; it was considerably more than what he thought he would have had to spend, having to dig into a good amount of his savings to afford it, but he was sure it was worth it, so he handed over the required amount in bills.

She counted them and gave him his receipt, placing the box of suppressants in a small bag and handing said bag over to him. She muttered a ‘Thank you’ before turning her attention back to her phone, so he considered himself dismissed in a way, and he walked away with a similar utterance, putting the small plastic bag that contained his newly purchased suppressants in his backpack.

When he walked back out, he didn’t even feel the cold that had made him so uncomfortable before, choosing to sit down on a nearby bench. He wiped down his sweaty palms on his jeans and hugged his backpack to his chest, breathing out the biggest sigh of relief in all his fifteen years of life; he didn’t even know what he would have done if she had asked for a prescription. Once his teenage heart had calmed down and he no longer felt like he was being choked by someone, he got his phone from his back pocket, holding it with shaky hands and sending a single text.

“ _teme, when do you want to meet up?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed feel free to leave a kudos or a comment and/or bookmark the story. See you guys next time! <3


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